[388] Buonaparte, on the 19th of August, addressed, from Cairo, the following letter to the widow of the unfortunate admiral:
"Your husband has been killed by a cannon-shot, while fighting on his deck. He died without pain, and by the best death, and that which is thought by soldiers most enviable. I am keenly sensible to your grief. The moment which severs us from the object we love is terrible; it insulates us from all the earth; it inflicts on the body the agonies of death; the faculties of the soul are annihilated, and its relations with the universe subsist only through the medium of a horrible dream, which alters every thing. Mankind appear colder and more selfish than they really are. In this situation we feel that, if nothing obliged us to live, it would be much best to die; but when, after this first thought, we press our children to our hearts, tears and tender feelings revive the sentiments of our nature, and we live for our offspring; yes, madam, see in this very moment, how they open your heart to melancholy: you will weep with them, you will bring them up from infancy—you will talk to them of their father, of your sorrow, of the loss which you and the Republic have sustained. After having once more attached your mind to the world by filial and maternal love, set some value on the friendship and lively regard which I shall always feel for the wife of my friend. Believe that there are a few men who deserve to be the hope of the afflicted, because they understand the poignancy of mental sufferings."
[389] "At ten o'clock a vessel which was burning, blew up with a tremendous noise, which was heard as plainly at Rosetta as the explosion of Grenelle at Paris. This accident was succeeded by a pitchy darkness, and a most profound silence, which continued for about ten minutes."—Poussielque to his Wife; Intercepted Letters, part i., p. 208.
"L'Orient blew up about eleven in the evening. The whole horizon seemed on fire, the earth shook, and the smoke which proceeded from the vessel ascended heavily in a mass, like an immense black balloon. It then brightened up, and exhibited the objects of all descriptions, which had been precipitated on the scene of conflict. What a terrible moment of fear and desolation for the French, who witnessed this awful catastrophe!"—Louis Buonaparte.
[390] "I know not whether the Archbishop of Malines did or did not apply the term Jupiter Scapin to Napoleon; but to me it appears incontestable, that the name of Scapin would be much more aptly bestowed on the writer, a bishop and an ambassador, who could be capable of such impertinence towards the sovereign he represented."—Louis Buonaparte, p. 32.
[391] "It is not true that in Egypt Napoleon showed himself almost persuaded of the truth of the mission of Mahomet. Doubtless, deceit and falsehood should be banished from the language of true policy, since as government ought to be, as much as is in the power of men, the image of God upon earth, its language ought to be that of truth and justice. This, however, does not preclude the right of respecting the religious worship and opinions of a conquered nation, and it was in this sense that the proclamations addressed by my brother to the Mussulmen should be regarded. They would not have been understood by these people, if they had not spoken their language. Whilst I was in Holland, I rejected at first the title of Emperor given to the King of Holland by the Sublime Porte; but upon expressing my astonishment I was assured that the Porte gave this title to the sovereigns of other countries, and that that of king would not be understood."—Louis Buonaparte, p. 34.
[392] This conversation appeared officially in the Moniteur. Bourrienne, notwithstanding, asserts that Buonaparte never set foot in the pyramid. He acknowledges, indeed, that "with the heads of the Mahometan priesthood he held frequent conversations on these subjects;" but adds, "in all this there was nothing serious; it was rather an amusement. If he ever spoke as a Mussulman, he did so in the capacity of a military and political chief in a Mahometan country. On this depended his success, the safety of the army, and consequently his glory. It is true, he had a Turkish dress made for him, but only as a joke. One morning he desired me to begin breakfast without waiting; a quarter of an hour after, he entered in his new costume. Scarcely was he recognised, when we received him with bursts of laughter. He took his place with a gravity which heightened the effect, but found himself so ill at ease as an Oriental, that he soon went to undress, and never gave a second exhibition of this masquerade."—Bourrienne, tom. ii., p. 164.
[393] Alluding to the capture of the island of Malta, and subjection of the Pope, on which he was wont to found as services rendered to the religion of Mahomet.—S.
[394] Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 261.
[395] Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 363.